11 replies to this topic

[Will.Allison]

A month or so ago, I installed linux on secondary hard drive and it screwed up my computer. When I tried to boot up, it said there was a GRUB error and I couldn't go anywhere after that. Anyway, I fixed all that but I am still curious about uBuntu but I don't want to mess up my computer again. I think the problem was that I used more than 1 HD. Is there a sure way to not mess up my computer if I just make a partition on my master hard drive?

Thanks.

[truefusion]

On this computer, i've installed around 11 different Linux Distributions without losing any personal data, nor messing up my Windows partition. Out of those distros were: Ubuntu, Kubuntu (including 7.10 Tribe 2), Xubuntu and Fluxbuntu. I can only wonder what you did during the installation process and what's the version of the distro you chose to use.

[Will.Allison]

I used the destop edition of 7.04 from ubuntu.com. Again, I'm pretty sure the problem was that I installed it on a separate hard drive than the main one. But now I'm too scared to try it again on a partition on my main hard drive.

[rvalkass]

Like you, I was a bit wary the first time I installed Kubuntu onto my laptop. I took the following steps to ensure that I didn't lose any data and the process went as smoothly as possible:

• Back up onto DVDs - It seems obvious, but this way you have very little chance of losing anything. Yes, its a lot of hassle to make the backup and then to use the data on the DVDs, but its worth it. If you have an external HDD, use that instead.
  
• Defragment the drive - Defragmenting makes sure the files are all in one block on your HDD, so partitioning is less likely to cause any problems.
  
• Reboot into the (K)Ubuntu Live CD - Kinda important...
  
• Click the Install icon on the desktop - Again, basic, but important A friend of mine thought that once the live desktop appeared, it was installed.
  
• Get to the partitioning screen - At this stage choose to partition the disk manually. It will take the installer quite a while to determine what partitions are on your drive, but let it keep going. When it finally springs into life, take the following steps:
  • Shrink your current partition down to about half the size of the drive. Make sure you only remove space from the "end" of the partition to avoid deleting data.
    
  • Create a new partition for (K)Ubuntu, and make it fill the remaining space on the HDD except the last 2GB. Choose ResierFS as the file system.
    
  • Fill the last 2GB on the disk with a final partition set as swap.
• Go! - Confirm the settings in the partitioner and go ahead with the installation. Remember, if the worst happens you have everything backed up anyway.

Just as a side note, I received an error during the installation informing me that it didn't particularly like the data on my Windows partition for some reason. This seems to be a common issue, and you can just accept it and let the installer continue with no ill effects.

The likely problem you had was that GRUB was placed on the first HDD, and Ubuntu on the second. This means that GRUB can't find Ubuntu, so can't mount it. Alternatively, GRUB went onto the second HDD along with Ubuntu, but the PC didn't search the second HDD for GRUB so failed to boot. As long as you put it all on the first HDD this time, you should be OK. Feel free to contact me if you want any help or advice.

[Will.Allison]

Thank you, that is really helpful.

But one question, what program can I use to defrag the drive? I'm guessing there is some open source stuff out there but I would have no idea what to be looking for. Thanks.

[truefusion]

Will.Allison, on Jul 19 2007, 04:49 PM, said:

But one question, what program can I use to defrag the drive?

Windows has its own little defragmenter in the Accessories > System Tools (i think it was). You should defrag at least 3-4 times before resizing the partition.

But a little FYI: The file systems used by Linux are better than the ones used by Windows in this area, therefore there is no need to worry about fragmentation. But i think i've seen a package named "defrag" in the Ubuntu repository (i doubt that it's useful anyways).

[Will.Allison]

Also, what about drivers for linux? I have heard that they are really annoying to track down. I have SLI and would want to use it on linux, is this possible? Is there a site to get all the drivers or do I have to fish them out individually? Sorry about all the questions, I just don't know much about linux and would like to know more before I try and use it.

[truefusion]

Using SLI on Linux is possible. Many distros support a lot of hardware out-of-the-box, but if the distro you're using does not support your system specs, you may go to the vendor's website and they should have the drivers available for download for Linux with instructions on how to install them. This may be a bit inconvenient for people who are new to the Linux world. But if you do a little research before picking and installing a distro, you might just find one that supports all of your system specs (which many of the popular ones do, now-a-days). My friend's motherboard supports SLI and Ubuntu seems to work perfectly for him—no complaints thus far.

[rvalkass]

For the drivers, you can search in the package manager (Adept on Kubuntu, Synaptic on Ubuntu) for the manufacturer's name and see what comes up. Quite often members of the community have written drivers to operate most hardware. Also, while you're in the package manager, look at all the great free software available for install at one click of a mouse

If you can't find drivers then there are two things you should do: First, email the manufacturer and complain. You're a paying customer of theirs, yet they only provide for people running Windows? 'Tis not right! If a manufacturer receives enough complaints and requests for Linux drivers then they are likely to provide them. Secondly, if you are using (K)Ubuntu, have a look around the Ubuntu Forums and see if anyone has posted a method for getting it working. If not, post asking for a way to make it work! The community is very friendly and willing to help people out, especially new Linux users like yourself.

[ameir]

For your case, although Ubuntu was installed on the second hard drive, Grub should have been installed on the MBR of the first hard drive. So long as no hardware changes occurred, Grub should be able to locate your Ubuntu install.

I highly recommend you try running Ubuntu in a virtual machine to get a feel for it before doing anything risky with your PC. Installing Ubuntu is actually straightforward in most cases, but if you're not confident about it, just hold off until you are. In the meantime, download Virtualbox (an EXCELLENT open source virtualization tool like VMware) and the Ubuntu iso, point the "CD-ROM" drive to the Ubuntu iso image, and boot away! When you maximize the screen, it will look just as if you booted into the real Ubuntu (well it actually is the real Ubuntu, just not on a real Linux partition).

I hope this helps, and I hope you finally get it figured out. After you trial Ubuntu, try out Linux Mint and/or Mepis. They're strong operating systems that are very newbie-friendly, but still as powerful as Ubuntu/Debian (Linux Mint is basically Ubuntu with built-in codecs, and Mepis was the same until they went back to Debian roots).